our history is not what we think, 59.06 min, uploaded by SouthSomewhere, July 5, 2012: … Over the past few thousand years, we have warped our own history. Our versions of the past has been mistranslated, changed, altered, and skewed to fit our understanding of reality, and completely left out many things that we cannot explain. Today, we are going to look at an alternate version of our history, a version that was recorded across many ancient tablets and artifacts throughout time, which have only recently been uncovered. This story may be a little cosmic, it may not even be true, but you will have to decide that for yourself. Join in the conversation …;

… that ended a whirlwind week on Syria – Published on Business Insider, by BRETT LOGIURATO, Sept 14, 2013.

… Here are the key points, from the State Department’s outline of the agreement:

The U.S. and Russia have agreed to the amount and types of chemical weapons in Syria, and are “committed” to immediate international control over them.

Syria has a deadline of a week to submit everything about its chemical weapons program. This includes a “comprehensive listing, including names, types, and quantities of its chemical weapons agents, types of munitions, and location and form of storage, production, and research and development facilities.”

U.N.-led inspectors must be on the ground in Syria by November to begin removal of chemical weapons.

Destruction of production and mixing/filling equipment by November.

Complete elimination of all chemical weapons material and equipment in the first half of 2014.

After the Islamists: Fearing for the Future in Northern Mali, on Spiegel Online International, by Bartholomäus Grill, Sept 12, 2013 (Photo Gallery): Residents of the battered northern Mali city of Gao are attempting to rebuild after French troops helped drive out jihadists early this year. Now local leaders are hoping the world won’t forget them …;

Syrian Army battles jihadists in ancient Christian village, 2.58 min, on Russia Today RT, Sept 11, 2013: Sporadic fighting continues after Syrian government troops have regained control of the village of Maaloula, a center of Christianity in the region. RT’s correspondent reports from the village, amid the shooting and fighter jets overhead;

What Is Hydraulic Fracturing? on ProPublica/Tools & Data, (it) is a process used in nine out of 10 natural gas wells in the United States, where millions of gallons of water, sand and chemicals are pumped underground to break apart the rock and release the gas. Scientists are worried that the chemicals used in fracturing may pose a threat either underground or when waste fluids are handled and sometimes spilled on the surface …; see ProPublica.org;

Nancy Banks on Vaccines, 14.26 min, on Reality Check, Sept 30, 2012 (also on YouTube): This is a brilliant interview on the problems with vaccines and also on the state of western or allopathic medicine …;

The biggest thing to remember about trusting your employer with your investments is: that you are trusting your employer with your investments.

If you want the best returns, you are most likely in a stock plan — but that also means that you’re exposed to market risk, meaning that when stocks crash, so does your money.

And whatever wealth you are accumulating in a 401k (if any) can be susceptible to inflation risk — because if you are taking macro factors into consideration, you could be wiped out by inflation.

One of the most alluring parts of investing in a 401k is having your employer match your contributions. But guess what? Many employers don’t. Many 401ks also have ridiculously high fees and commissions that are simply not worth the risk of the unknown.

As the old adage goes, better to take “money in my pocket” over “promises that can’t be kept” any day.

New pamphlet in espanol: Instrumentos de la política [1 de 12], 8.10 min, video on Links.org, by Marta Harnecker;
also uploaded on YouTube by ciclopolitico, August 12, 2011: let run in autoplay all videos 2-12/12;

Published on The Real-News Network TRNN, 9.37 min;
Lynn Fries interviews Vijay Prashad, August 29, 2013: Allowing big firms to enter your country to modernize agriculture is very dangerous because essentially you are losing sovereignty over your food. Part 3 of 4.
(also on YouTube, uploaded there by the TheRealNews channel).
(Welcome to our new blog: politics for the 99%).

… WMR’s sources report that Bandar, CIA director John Brennan, Turkish MIT intelligence director Hakan Fidan, and Mossad chief Tamir Pardo have coordinated “false flag” terrorist operations in Lebanon designed to involve Lebanon in the Syrian conflict. The goal is that any U.S., NATO, and ersatz “coalition” forces attacking President Bashar al Assad’s government in Syria would be given a green light to attack Hezbollah forces in Lebanon as part of an operation to topple the current Lebanese government and purge pro-Syrian and Hezbollah elements from its ranks … (full text).

Within the last few decades, the emergence of public intellectuals as important cultural and social critics has raised fundamental questions not only about the social function of academics, but also about the connection between higher education and public life, between academic work and the major issues shaping the broader society. Truthout’s Public Intellectual Project will provide progressive academics with an opportunity to address a number of important social issues in a language that is both rigorous and accessible. All too often, academics produce work that is either too abstract for a generally informed public, or they separate their scholarship from the myriad of issues and contemporary problems that shape everyday life in the United States and abroad … //
… Articles by Henry A. Gigoux: Articles by Other Authors in the Public Intellectual Project: … (full long list of names and links).

… but we’re still waiting for the beginning of a new movement – Published on New Politics, by Dan La Botz, August 26, 2013 ( see also our new blog: politics for the 99%).

The Fiftieth Anniversary March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom on August 24 was a mostly African American working class event of tens of thousands. They came to celebrate the struggles and victories of a half century ago and to put on the agenda for today the issues of racial profiling and stand-your-ground laws, the country’s unemployment rate and growing economic inequality, and new restrictions on voting rights. Some of those on the dais before the magnificent Lincoln Monument, like Representative John Lewis, had spoken there in 1963, while others like Newark Mayor and New Jersey Senate candidate Cory Booker were, as he said, not even born then. Where fifty years ago the civil rights leaders had come to implore the Democratic Party politicians, at this march the Democratic Party politicians came to try to mobilize politically—and immobilize socially—their ever more discontented if still incredibly loyal base … // … (full text and photos).

U.S. intelligence agency tapped the headquarter of the United Nations in New York, reported German weekly Der Spiegel on Sunday, citing secret documents. The magazine saidthat by analysing documents from former intelligence contractor Edward Snowden it found American National Security Agency penetrated the internal video conference system of the UN and cracked its encryption last summer. This led to “a dramatic improvement of data on video conferencing and the ability to decrypt that data” for NSA, according to the documents. Within three weeks, the number of decrypted communications had risen from 12 to 458 … //
… (full text and links to related news articles).

the interior of a burned and destroyed Coptic Christian church in Minya province, Egypt, on Russia Today RT, August 22, 2013. Fifty places of worship were looted and torched in just three days following the dispersal of Muslim Brotherhood camps;